BULLETIN OF THE COLGATE ROCHESTER CROZER DIVINITY SCHOOL

CRCDS: Faith. Critically engaged. is a bi-annual publication of Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School located at 1100 South Goodman Street, Rochester, New York 14620.

B u l l e t i n o f t h e C o l g at e R o c h e s t e r C r o z e r D i v i n i t y S c h o o l
Spring/Summer
2014
Faith. Critically engaged.
Inside:
✛ Kairos: From Concept to Practice
✛ Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr.:
African Centered Theology
in an Age of Color Blindness:
They Forgot Their Story!
✛ CRCDS receives $1M gift
✛ Pastor William Ellis (CRCDS ’14)
energizes Elmira
✛ BMTS Legacy Continues to
Provide Opportunities for Growth
P lu s :
+ New Master’s Track
in Kairos Studies
+ Board of Trustees
Update
+ 2014 Fall Lecture
Preview
About this issue:
The hourglass symbolizes the Greek word chronos, the way in which we
normally perceive time. The Greek word Kairos, on the other hand, signifies
Godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s in-breaking into our lives.
CRCDS, as part of the global Kairos movement, has incorporated this theme
into its Spring and Fall Lectures, Reflections and Worship. In addition, the
school is proud to offer a new Masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Track in Kairos Studies, beginning in
the Fall 2014 semester.
In this issue, we share the ways in which those who have answered the
kairotic calls in their lives have been transformed.
CRCDS: Faith. Critically engaged.
is a bi-annual publication of
Colgate Rochester Crozer
Divinity School
1100 South Goodman Street,
Rochester, New York, 14620.
PUBLISHER:
Colgate Rochester Crozer
Divinity School (CRCDS)
EDITOR:
Michele Kaider-Korol
DESIGN:
MillRace Design
PRINTING:
St. Vincent Press
CRCDS
Spri n g/Sum m er
2014
Faith. Critically engaged.
Spring Lecture
Series 2014 was
a resounding
success!
CRCDS enjoyed world-class
speakers, record attendance
and great exposure. Scan the
QR code to view highlights of
the week’s events, or go to
www.crcds.edu to watch recorded
lectures. Click on "Visit our
YouTube Channel" on our
home page.
J
Kairos: Transforming Crisis into
Opportunity, In God’s Time
by Dr. Melanie Duguid-May
4
Graduate in Action:
Pastor William Ellis
6
BMTS Legacy:
Exploring Enduring Connections
7
Out In the World:
Alumni/ae Updates
8
African Centered Theology in an
Age of Color Blindness:
They Forgot Their Story! by
Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr.
10
Kairos and the Challenge of
Theological Education:
Dr. James H. Evans, Jr.
14
Fall Lecture Preview
16
Board of Trustees Update
16
Horizon Society:
CRCDS Receives $1M Gift
17
Memorial and Appreciation Gifts
18
In Memoriam
23
oin the conversation!
If you haven’t checked us out on social
media, please do—we want to hear from you!
Share your news, photos and updates:
www.facebook.com/crcds
@crcds
3
D r . M e l a n i e D u g u i d - M ay , J o h n Pr i c e C r o z e r Pr o f e s s o r o f T h e o l o g y
KAIROS:
Transforming
crisis into opportunity,
in God’s time
T
he word kairos derives from a Greek word for “time.”
Kairos is contrasted with chronos, from which we derive “chronology.” Chronos is clock time; the division of the
day into twenty-four hours and then minutes and seconds, and now nano-seconds.
Clock time—and now our accelerated digital time—not only orders our movement through the day, but
institutes a regularity and repetition that leave no facet of our lives untouched. This time that governs our lives is
propelled by an overarching temporal value: efficiency, which as a method has become the best way to use time
for the sake of productivity and material progress.
Kairos is disruptive time;
kairos is something new
breaking into our lives. In
biblical texts the word refers
to a “right” time or a time
fulfilled, a time when
momentous things are
happening or are about to
happen. For example, Mark’s
gospel opens with these
words about Jesus’ public
ministry: “The kairos is
fulfilled, and the Kingdom of
God is hand. Repent and
believe the gospel” (Mark
1:15). What has been
anticipated or expected is
The Olive Tree: Ceramic Tile Mural of Jerusalem
now breaking into our lives,
and those who have ears to
hear are called to respond:
repent, turn around, believe—and live—the good news. Similarly, in his Corinthian correspondence, Paul
writes, “Now is the acceptable kairos; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2); and he calls his readers
to seize the moment and respond.
The call to respond to a kairos moment is as unsettling as it is urgent. This is not an “ah ha” moment
or a moment in which we are surprised by joy. God’s kairos breaks into times of life-and-death struggle, such
as our own time, during which violence pervades domestic and international arenas, as we also violate the
4
earth that sustains our material life. Biblical texts
admonish us to be alert, lest we fail to read the signs of
the times and miss the kairos moment: “Take heed,
watch and pray, for you do not know when the kairos
will come” (Luke 13:22). According to the Lukan
narrator, as Jesus approaches Jerusalem for the last
time, he reflects on what happens to those who fail to
“Take heed, watch and pray, for
you do not know when the
kairos will come.” (Luke 13:22)
discern the times and miss the “appointed time,” the
kairos: “Your enemies will dash you to the ground, you
and your children with you, and they will not leave one
stone upon another in you...because you did not know
the kairos of your visitation” (19:44).
There is today a global Christian kairos
movement that seeks to alert us to life and death
crises in our world today, and calls us to choose life
abundant for all God’s people, especially for those
who cry for justice and peace, for the “least of these.”
Christians in South Africa, Namibia, El Salvador,
Nicaragua, Guatemala, Palestine, Brazil, South Korea,
the Philippines, Canada, and the U.S. are “discerning
the signs of the times” amid our present crises—
apartheid, endemic violence and endless wars, poverty
and the unjust global economic order, military
occupation and settler-colonialism, structural racism,
ecological degradation and consumer greed—calling
us to confess and urging us to decisive action.
NEW!
If Kairos moments
are calls to
repentance, these
moments also evoke
cries of hope.
Hope is not optimism or
wishful thinking, but
hope in action, as the
power of new creation.
If we dare to discern the signs of God’s in-breaking, we
may be seized by opportunities to seek justice, love
mercy, and walk humbly with God and our neighbors,
locally and globally. If we dare to speak the truth to
power, we may be able to live into the promise of
beloved communities of mutuality and sustainability for
all God’s people and for God’s good creation.
As we move through the second decade of the
21st century, together with Christians worldwide,
we are inspired to engage kairos as a hermeneutical
lens through which we view the world and see present
crises as opportunities for God’s new creation.
We are challenged to cultivate kairos consciousness
as a critical consciousness that not only discerns but
judges the present situation and provokes us to
decision. We are urged to kairos action, whether by
speaking truth to power, offering just hospitality or
compassion for the oppressed, engaging in nonviolent
resistance or radical reconciliation, planting olive trees
in the shadow of the Wall of separation or taking up
the cross of our conviction in the face of censure.
God’s time is now! Repent and believe in the gospel!
MASTER OF ARTS TRACK IN KAIROS STUDIES
CRCDS is pleased to introduce a Master’s in Kairos Studies beginning in the Fall 2014 semester.
The Kairos Studies Track is two-fold: engaging the global Kairos movement while continuing CRCDS’ legacy of
social justice studies.
Graduates of the 16-course program will be equipped for careers in advocacy, social justice ministry, community
activism, and non-government organization (NGO) work. Career preparation includes a three-month immersion
experience, giving students the ability to practice kairos in accompaniment groups, border ministry, peace and
justice initiatives and community organizing.
Admission to the Master of Arts in Kairos Studies requires a completed four-year bachelor’s degree from a
regionally accredited college or university with a minimum GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale.
Please contact the Admissions Office at admissions@crcds.edu or 1-888-937-3732 for more information or to
request an application packet.
The inaugural class is limited to 12 students. Applications for the fall term are being accepted now.
Submit yours today!
5
CRCDS Graduate
In Action
Pa s t o r W i l l i a m E l l i s ( C R C D S ’ 1 4 ) , f o u n d e r o f
N e w D a y M i n i s t r y i n E l m i r a , N e w Y o r k , n o t o n ly r e c o g n i z e s
kairotic moments, he embraces them.
“I sensed the
Lord calling me
to this area to
start a ministry,
and He placed
a special burden
on my heart for
the men and
youth, especially
for those who
are falling
through the
educational
cracks.”
New Day Ministry
Church,
Elmira, NY
6
T
he Baptist Missionary Training School (BMTS)
Legacy Continues
Enabling women for ministry for over 130 years
Over 50 years have passed since the legacies of
the Baptist Missionary Training School (BMTS) and
what was then Colgate Rochester Divinity School
(now Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School)
were first joined. Many significant changes have
occurred at the school since then, but one thing
has remained constant – the presence of the BMTS
legacy on the Hill and the vital role it continues to
play in preparing leaders (women and men) who
are pastoral, prophetic and learned.
Over the years, the generosity of the alumnae and friends of
the BMTS made possible the establishment of both the Baptist
Missionary Training School Chair and the Baptist Missionary
Training School Scholarship. Through these initiatives, the
BMTS continues to impact all students at CRCDS, providing support for
first-rate faculty scholars as well as support for women who want to pursue
a call to ministry. Recently, the BMTS legacy has been present in a unique
way on the Hill, a way that demonstrates how interwoven the fabric of the
BMTS and CRCDS now are.
David Evans (CRDS ’53) and
Bronwyn Evans (CRCDS Student)
Bronwyn Evans, daughter of BMTS alumna and CRCDS Life Trustee,
Grace Norton Evans (BMTS ’52) and David Evans (CRDS ’53), is currently
pursuing studies at CRCDS that will allow her to minister in the areas of
pastoral counseling and spiritual care. Bronwyn is a 2013-14 recipient of
the BMTS Scholarship and her ability to study at CRCDS is related, in part,
to the generosity of BMTS alumnae and friends.
“I feel incredibly blessed
for my family’s rich BMTS
and CRCDS history. The
schools have shaped many
family members and now
it’s my turn.”
Bronwyn’s family is linked to the BMTS and CRCDS in many ways. Her
mother, a BMTS alumna who taught kindergarten in the Ithaca City School
District for 25 years and her father, a CRDS alumnus and retired pastor of
First Baptist Church, Ithaca, are both graduates. Her uncle, Gerald Evans (CRDS ’66), her sister, Janel MillerEvans (CRDS ’85), her brother-in-law, Phil Miller-Evans (CRDS ’86) and her brother-in-law’s father, Jim Miller
(CRDS ’63), who currently serves as a CRCDS Trustee, are all part of the BMTS/CRCDS family.
Bronwyn says, “I grew up under the umbrella of BMTS/CRCDS and attended their events throughout
my childhood. Yet, I always yearned to have my own relationship with CRCDS. Although I felt drawn
to the school, I did not feel called to be a pastor.” For Bronwyn, the BMTS/CRCDS education provides
an opportunity to gain the skills and insights, particularly in the areas of faith and spirituality, necessary
to deepen her effectiveness in her work as a psychotherapist.
She says, “At CRCDS, I’ve found a place of belonging. There’s a wonderful sense of community on
“the Hill.” I feel incredibly blessed for my family’s rich BMTS and CRCDS history. The schools have
shaped many family members and now it’s my turn. I don’t know what the future holds, but for today
I’m listening, learning, and integrating that learning into the person that I am and the person God calls
me to be.”
“I wouldn’t be able to attend CRCDS without the financial support of the BMTS women and their
friends and I want to thank them for helping to make this part of my journey possible. Now it’s my turn
to carry their legacy forward.”
Grace Norton Evans
(BMTS ’52)
7
Out
in the
World
U p d at e s , N e w s
and Notes from
CRCDS, CTS and
B M T S A lu m n i / a e
Rev. M. Jackson Takayanagi
(CRDS, ’50)
Jack and Mary celebrated their 70th
wedding anniversary in December
2013.
Rev. Ronald H. Webb
(CTS, ’56)
Ronald and Lois celebrated their 60th
wedding anniversary in April 2013.
In June, they moved to a retirement
community in Lynchburg, VA.
Rev. William L. Malcomson
(CRDS, ’57)
Rev. Malcomson is now retired and is
the Theologian-In-Residence at Seattle
First Baptist Church in Seattle, WA.
Ms. Natalie Wigandt Galaway
(BMTS, ’60)
Nan and her husband, Burt, moved to
Meadowood Shores, an independent
living community in Minnesota, to be
closer to their sons and 5
grandchildren. Natalie sends her
regards to all at CRCDS, and especially
to the BMTS Class of 1960.
Dr. H. Darrell Lance
(CRDS, ’61)
Darrell appeared in the acting group
“The Geriactors” at the Rochester
Fringe Festival this past September. The
group presented 10 original short plays
penned by local authors known as
“Rochester Playwrights.” The engaging
plots involve everything from a space
alien’s first experience of an American
football game to a touching story of a
man with Alzheimer’s.
8
Rev. Dr. Albert Rowe
Rev. Stuart J. Mitchell III
(CTS, ’62)
Dr. Rowe recently retired from Calvary
Baptist Church in Paterson, NJ.
Although Dr. Rowe has relinquished his
Sunday duties, he will continue to
oversee Calvary’s Family Life Center,
which operates a medical clinic, job
training initiatives and a foster-parent
program.
(CRDS ’70)
In January, Stuart was recognized with
the “Everyday Hero” award for
economic and social justice at the
29th Annual Greater Rochester Martin
Luther King Jr. Commission Celebration.
Mr. Neil Sowards
(CRDS ’62)
Neil attended the 100th Anniversary
of the founding of the Karen Baptist
Convention this past December. The
Convention, established in 1913, is
located in Lanmadaw Township,
Yangon, Myanmar. Today, the Karen
Baptist Convention is the largest
member body of the Myanmar Baptist
Convention.
Dr. James S. MacMain
(CTS ’63)
Dr. MacMain is semi-retired and is
working part-time at St. John’s United
Methodist Church in Ivyland, PA.
Dr. Donald Guiles
(CRDS ’64)
Donald was appointed as retired elder
in the United Methodist Churches to
Beaver Dams and Corning Grace
communities in Beaver Dams and
Corning, NY.
Rev. Gary W. Harris
(CRDS ’66)
Rev. Harris is retired and a member
of the Bereau Baptist Church in
Harrisville, RI.
Rev. Dr. John S. Walker
(CRDS ’69)
Dr. Walker received a Lifetime
Achievement Award from the Faith In
Action Network/GRCC at the group’s
annual celebration dinner on June 10,
2014. Dr. Walker is a life-long activist in
the Civil Rights Movement and scholar
of Black Church History, founder of the
Rochester Area Child Abuse Network
(RACAN), member of the United
Christian Leadership Ministries of
Western New York and senior pastor of
Christian Friendship Missionary Baptist
Church, Henrietta, NY.
Rev. Thomas Young
(CRDS ’73)
Rev. Young retired from Westminster
Presbyterian Church in Dubuque, IA.
He was President of Dubuque Area
Congregations United, which includes
Christian, Jewish and Muslim faith
communities. Rev. Young and his wife,
Julie, retired to the Kansas City area.
They are looking forward to new
opportunities to serve Christ and
grow in faith.
Rev. Dr. W. Kenneth Williams
(CRDS ’76)
Ken retired from First Baptist Church in
Rochester, NY and has moved with his
wife, Peggy Nowling-Williams, to
Durham, NC.
Rev. Judith L. Sutterlin
(CRDS ’83)
Judy is retiring from her fully
commissioned role at the American
Baptist International Ministries. She will
serve as a retired volunteer Special
Assistant to Area Director for East Asia
and India. She will continue to serve on
the teaching faculty of the seminary in
Nanjing and will help with other
projects, including visiting 140+
orphans annually.
Rev. Patricia J. Olmstead
(CRDS ’84)
Pat has officially retired from the
United Methodist Church and reports
that life is good.
Rev. Thomas G. Carr
(CRDS ’85)
Rev. Carr has been involved in issues
of ecology and environmental justice
with local congregations, with the
ecumenical community and on an
interfaith basis for 25 years. He is
the co-founder of the Interreligious
Eco-Justice Network, has served on
the National Council of Churches
Eco-Justice Working Group, and is
presently part of the National Religious
Coalition on Creation Care and the
Interfaith Moral Action on Climate.
Rev. Alicia Conklin-Wood
Rev. Alvin L. Johnson
Rev. Janet A.M. James
(CRDS ’86)
Alicia is enjoying retirement from regular
parish duties and has more time for
family, leading contemplative retreats
and offering spiritual direction. She is
celebrating her oldest grandchild’s
graduation from college this year.
(CRDS ’91)
Rev. Johnson has been called to serve as
Pastor at Pond Street Baptist Church in
West Warwick, RI.
(CRDS '08)
Janet has been appointed to Calvary
UMC in Latham, NY where she will serve
as the first female senior pastor.
Janet will be closer to family.
Rev. Burton L. Smith, Jr.
(CRDS ’86)
Burton has been appointed as a retired
elder to Wellsville First United Methodist
Church in Wellsville, NY.
Dr. Elizabeth Tillar
(CRDS ’88)
Elizabeth founded the “Editorial Expertise
Retreat”, which offers writers the
opportunity to devote themselves to a
period of intensive concentration on
self-selected projects. The retreat is
located in Tamworth, NH. In addition to
teaching university students for more than
25 years, Elizabeth has written and edited
fiction and numerous scholarly articles
and books, published by Notre Dame,
Blackwell, and Kegan Paul, among other
notable presses. She has been teaching
philosophy and religious studies at
Plymouth State University since 2007.
Barbara A. Moore, RSM
(CRDS ’89)
Barbara received the Metropolitan Award
from the Faith in Action Network/GRCC
at their annual celebration dinner on
June 10, 2014. Barbara is a Sister of
Mercy of the New York, Pennsylvania,
Pacific West Community and Director of
the Program for the Study of Women and
Gender in Church and Society, and
Professor of Preaching and Practical
Theology at Colgate Rochester Crozer
Divinity School.
Rev. Shelia M. Wilson
(CRDS, ’90)
Shelia has published a strategic prayer
journal Clean off the Dust available at
www.Amazon.com. The premise of the
journal is based on Jesus’ washing of
the disciples’ feet at the Last Supper.
Two of the five “dusty” subjects deal
with frustration/stress and forgiving
self and others.
Rev. Sarah E. Culp
(CRDS ’91)
Sarah serves as the Assistant to the
Supervisor at the Town of Irondequoit,
Irondequoit, NY.
Rev. Judith E. Cole
(CRDS ’94)
Judith has been appointed as a
part-time pastor to Dunkirk, NY United
Methodist Church.
Rev. Robert Scott Hayes
Rev. Lawrence Hargrave
Ms. Emily B. Huyge
(CRDS ’00)
Rev. Hargrave recently received the
Reverend Raymond Graves Award for
community service and social justice from
the CRCDS Black Student Caucus.
(CRCDS ’12)
Emily and her husband Dana welcomed
the birth of their daughter, Sarah Rose
Huyge.
Rev. Dr. Aaron Bouwens
(CRCDS ’12)
Katie Jo was installed as Pastor at The
Baptist Temple in Brighton, NY in
February. At the Rochester Fringe Festival
in September 2013, Katie Jo created
sand mandalas in the atrium of the Geva
Theater. When not pastoring, she can be
found creating delicate works of art by
arranging thousands of tiny grains of
brightly-colored sand incorporating
Tibetan Buddhist techniques into her own
unique designs.
(CRDS ’03)
Dr. Bouwens is the Conference Director
of Vital Congregations of the Upper
New York United Methodist Conference.
Rev. Heather Williams
(CRDS ’03)
Heather has been appointed as a full
elder to Saratoga Springs, NY United
Methodist Church.
Rev. Timothy J. Schultz
(CRDS ’06)
Rev. Schultz began a new pastorate at
the Monroeville Church of the Brethren
near Pittsburgh, PA.
Rev. Michael Ware
(CRDS ’06)
Michael will take a sabbatical JulySeptember to study the concept and
practice of the missional church in
Rochester, NY, St. Louis, MO, and
Cape Town, South Africa. He will also
engage in spiritual reflection on retreat in
New York State. The entire family
(Barbara Lacker-Ware, CRDS ’84) will
travel to South Africa for a vacation,
after which Michael will remain for
several weeks in mission.
Rev. Dr. Bonita Bates
(CRCDS ’12)
Scott has been named Interim Minister of
Parma Baptist Church in Rochester, NY.
Rev. Katie Jo Suddaby
Rev. Derek H. Hansen
(CRCDS ’13)
Derek and his wife, Becky, welcomed
their second son, Samuel George, in
January.
Rev. Julius David Jackson, Jr.
(CRCDS ’13)
JD was inaugurated pastor of the
East Aurora Christian Church in
East Aurora, NY. CRCDS President
Dr. Marvin McMickle was the honored
keynote speaker.
Ms. Katherine S. Merriman
(CRCDS ’13)
Katherine is the administrative assistant
at Trumansburg, NY United Methodist
Church.
(CRCDS M. Div. ’05, D. Min. ’11)
Bonnie has been called to the Eastern
Ohio and Western Reserve Associations
of the Ohio Conference of the United
Church of Christ as the Association’s
Associate Minister for Congregational
Vitality & Development. Her position
includes revitalization efforts, new church
starts, search and call and work with
interim ministers. The Associations
consist of 165 churches.
9
CRCDS African American Legacy Lecture, April 2014
African Centered Theology in an Age of Color Blindness:
They Forgot
Their Story!
Guest Lecturer:
Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr.
S
ix years ago during the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference’s
Annual Legislative Days held in the Nation’s Capitol, prominent
scholars of the African-American Religious Tradition from several
different disciplines (theologians, church historians, ethicists,
professors of Hebrew Bible, New Testament, Homiletics,
Hermeneutics and historians of religion…) joined with sociologists,
psychologists, political analysts, local church pastors and
denominational officials from across the ecumenical spectrum to
examine the African-American Religious Experience and its
historical, theological and political contexts.
The workshops, the panel discussions and the symposia examined in much more intricate detail this “unknown
phenomenon” of the Black Church than I have time to go into
in the few moments that we have to share together this
evening. I do, however, want to raise some important points
about the Black Church from that gathering. The “unknown
phenomenon” of the Black Church and the African Centered
theology that undergirds it are as old as (and in some
instances is older than) this country that all of us love and that
some of us have served. The African American Religious tradition is a tradition that is in some ways like Ralph Ellison’s
“The Invisible Man.” Like “The Invisible Man,” African Centered theology is also too often “invisible” to the dominant
culture all the while being “hidden” in plain sight.
The Black Church and the African Centered theology upon
which it is founded have been right here in our midst and on
our shores since the 1600’s, but they were, have been and, in
far too many instances still are, invisible to the dominant
culture in terms of their rich history, their incredible legacy and
their multiple meanings.
The Black Religious Experience and African Centered theology
are traditions that at one point in American history were actually called “The Invisible Institution” as Black worship was
10
forced underground by the Black Codes which prohibited the
gathering of more than two Black people without the presence
of a white person to monitor the conversation, the content and
the mood of any discourse between persons of African
descent. This happened in this country!
Race, Religion and Politics which inform African Centered theology have been a part of this country’s history since the
1600’s. The Black Codes that came into being after enslaved
Africans tried to break free of chattel slavery in the 1800’s
(with insurrections led by Gabriel Prosser, Denmark Vesey and
Nat Turner among hundreds more and fed by David Walker
and Harriet Tubman)—those codes did not kill the religion of
the Africans nor the theology they embraced.
Africans did not stop worshipping because of the Black
Codes. Africans did not stop gathering for inspiration and
information, and for encouragement and hope in the midst of
discouraging and seemingly hopeless circumstances.
Africans just gathered out of the eyesight and earshot of those
who defined them as less than human. They became, in other
words, “invisible” in and invisible to the eyes of the dominant
culture. They gathered to worship in brush arbors or hush
arbors where the slaveholders, slave patrols and Uncle Toms
“couldn’t hear nobody pray.”
From the 1700’s in North America with the founding of
the first legally-recognized independent Black congregations through the end of the Civil War and the passing of
the 13th and 14th Amendments to the Constitution of the
United States of America, the Black Religious Experience
was informed by, enriched by, expanded by, challenged
by, shaped by and influenced by the influx of Africans
from the other two Americas and by the Africans who
were brought into this country from the Caribbean. Just as
they brought their culture (and their code languages) with
them, they also brought their theology.
In addition, the Africans who were called “fresh Blacks”
by the slave traders, those Africans who had not been
through the “seasoning process” of the Middle Passage
(in the Caribbean colonies), those Africans of the Sea
Coast Islands off of Georgia and South Carolina, the
Gullah (or the “Geechee”) people, brought into the
Black Religious Experience a flavor that other “seasoned” Africans could not bring. The theology of
“fresh blacks” therefore also impacted the theology of
“seasoned” blacks.
“maybe this dialogue on race
could move the people of faith ...
from various stages of alienation
and marginalization to the exciting
possibility of reconciliation.”
Those various streams of the Black Religious Experience
(and the theologies which make up that experience) were
addressed in summary form over the two days of the
Proctor Conference’s Legislative Days at the in the
Nation’s Capitol in April of 2008; streams which require
full courses at the university and graduate school level
and could not be fully addressed in a two-day symposium, and streams which tragically remain “invisible” to a
dominant culture which knows nothing about those whom
Langston Hughes calls “the darker brother.”
All of those streams make up this multilayered and rich
tapestry of the Black Religious Experience and African
Centered theology. I opened up that two-day symposium
with the hope that the 2008 media attack on the Black
Church just might mean that the reality of the AfricanAmerican church would no longer be “invisible.”
The Trustees of the Proctor Conference thought that
maybe in 2008, as an honest dialogue about race in this
country looked like it was beginning—a dialogue called
for by then Senator Obama and a dialogue that began in
the United Church of Christ among 5,700 congregations—it was the thinking and the hope that maybe then
as that dialogue began, the religious tradition and the
theology that has kept hope alive for a people struggling
to survive in countless, hopeless situations—maybe that
religious tradition and that theology would be finally
understood, celebrated and even embraced by a nation
that seems not to have noticed why eleven o'clock on
Sunday morning has been called “the most segregated
hour in America.”
We have known since 1787 that 11:00 o’clock on
Sunday morning is the most segregated hour. It was the
hope of the Board of Trustees of the Proctor Conference
six years ago that maybe we could begin to understand
why it is the most segregated hour; and maybe after that
Conference we could begin to take steps to move the
Black Religious Tradition and African Centered theology
from the status of “invisible” to the status of invaluable,
not just for some Black people in this country, but for all
the people in this country!
Maybe this dialogue on race that was then supposed to
begin—an honest dialogue that does not engage in
denial or superficial platitudes—maybe this dialogue on
race could move the people of faith in this country from
various stages of alienation and marginalization to the
exciting possibility of reconciliation.
In the 1960’s, the term “Liberation Theology” began to
gain currency with the writings and the teachings of
preachers, pastors, priests and professors from Latin
America. Their Latin American theology was done “from
the underside!”
Their viewpoint was not from the top down or from the set
of teachings which undergirded imperialism. Their viewpoints, rather, were from the bottom up. Their theology
originated from the thoughts and understandings of God,
the faith, religion and the Bible of those whose lives were
ground under, mangled, marginalized and destroyed by
the ruling classes or the oppressors.
Liberation Theology then started in and from a different
place. It started from the vantage point of the oppressed.
My paper which attempted to summarize a 500 year-old
tradition focused on three areas—a theology of Liberation, a theology of transformation and a theology of
reconciliation.
I. A THEOLOGY OF LIBERATION
In the late 1960’s when Dr. James Cone’s powerful
books burst onto the scene, the term “Black Liberation
Theology” began to be used. I do not disagree with
Dr. Cone, nor do I in any way diminish the inimitable
11
and incomparable contribution he has made and
continues to make to the Field of Theology. Jim,
incidentally, is a personal friend of mine.
it was practiced to set the slaveholders free from the notion
that they could define other human beings or confine a
soul set free by the power of the Gospel.
After the publication of his latest book, The Cross and the
Lynching Tree, I wrote him a personal note and I told him
that it was the best of all of his 14 or 15 books! You have
to put that on your personal reading lists if you want to
understand Race, Religion, Politics, African Centered Theology and the Black Church’s Proclamation in 2014.
The prophetic theology of the Black Church during the days
of segregation, Jim Crow, lynching and the “separate but
equal” fantasy was a theology of liberation. It was
preached to set African Americans free from the notion of
second-class citizenship which was the “law of the land;”
and it was practiced to set free misguided and miseducated
Americans from the notion that they were actually superior
to other Americans based on the color of their skin.
I call our African Centered faith tradition, however, “The
Prophetic Tradition of the Black Church” because I trace its
origins back past Jim Cone, past the sermons and songs of
Africans in bondage in the Transatlantic Slave Trade or the
European Slave Trade as L. H. Whelchel cautions us to call
it. I trace its origins past the problem of Western ideology of
and Eurocentric notions of white supremacy. I trace the
“Liberating the captives also
liberates those who are holding
them captive.”
theology of the Black Church back to the prophets in the
Hebrew Bible and to its last prophet (in my tradition), the
One we call Jesus of Nazareth.
The prophetic tradition of the Black Church has its roots in
Isaiah 61 where God says the prophet is to preach the
Gospel to the poor and to set at liberty those who are held
captive. Liberating the captives also liberates those who are
holding them captive. It frees the captives and it frees the
captors. It frees the oppressed and it frees the oppressor.
One cannot talk about Race, Religion, Politics and the
Black Church’s Proclamation without taking seriously what
Jerome Ross, Curtiss DeYoung and Allan Boesak stress
about the faith we share. Oppressors and living under
oppression are the warp and woof of the biblical faith
tradition. Every word in our bibles was written under one
of six different kinds of oppression—Egyptian, Assyrian,
Babylonia, Persian, Greek and Roman.
From Moses’ prophetic message of “Let my people go”
(given by God)—a message of liberation—to Harriet
Tubman’s nineteen life-threatening trips back into the
segregated south to GET her people free, the message
of liberation has been central in our faith tradition.
The prophetic theology of the Black Church during the
days of chattel slavery was a theology of liberation. It was
preached to set free those who were held in bondage
(spiritually, psychologically and sometimes physically!), and
12
The prophetic theology of the Black Church in our day is
preached to set African Americans and all other Americans
free from the misconceived notion that different means
deficient. Being different does not mean one is deficient.
It simply means one is different. (Like snowflakes and like
the diversity that God loves!)
Black music is different from European and EuropeanAmerican music. It is not deficient. It is just different.
Black worship is different from European and EuropeanAmerican worship. It is not deficient. It is just different.
Black preaching is different from European and EuropeanAmerican preaching. It is not deficient. It is just different.
Black learning styles are different from European and
European-American learning styles. They are not deficient.
They are just different. This principle of “different does not
mean deficient” is at the heart of the prophetic theology
of the Black Church. It is one of the main tenets of African
Centered theology and it is definitely a theology of liberation (from the bottom up).
II. THE THEOLOGY OF
TRANSFORMATION
The prophetic African Centered theology of the Black
Church is not only a theology of liberation. It is also a
theology of transformation also rooted in Isaiah 61—the
text from which Jesus preached His inaugural message as
recorded by Luke. When you read the entire passage from
either Isaiah 61 or Luke 4 (and do not try to understand the
content of the passage in the context of a sound bite), what
you see is God’s desire for a radical change in a social
order that had gone sour—a transformation.
God’s desire is for positive, meaningful and permanent
change. Transformation! God does not want one people
seeing themselves as superior to another people. God
does not want the powerless masses, the poor, the
widows, the marginalized or those underserved by the
powerful few to stay locked into sick systems that treat
some in the society as being “more equal” than others in
that same society.
These two foci of liberation of transformation have not only been at the very
core of the Black religious Experience—
right at the nexus of Race and Religion
(and politics). These two foci have also
been at the very core of the denomination I served for 36 years as a pastor.
Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright, Jr., Dr. Marvin McMickle,
and Dr. Mark Braverman
God’s desire is for a positive change (transformation); real
change (transformation)—not cosmetic change; radical
change or a change that makes a permanent
difference (transformation).
God’s desire is for transformation, changed lives, changed
minds, changed laws, changed social orders and changed
hearts in a changed world. This principle of transformation is
at the heart of the prophetic theology of the Black Church. It
is also at the heart of African Centered theology which seeks
a non-racial society like the non-racial society of (and in) the
new South Africa.
Non-racial does not mean a “post racial” or “color blind”
society. A non-racial society (which African Centered theology preaches) means that no one race stops being who they
are as God created them. In South Africa, Ndebeles remain
Ndebeles. Tswanas remain Tswanas. Shangans remain
Shangans. Sothos remain Sothos, Xhosas remain Xhosas.
Zulus remain Zulus. Afrikaans remain Afrikaans. Khois
remain Khois and Sans remain Sans.
No one race becomes some other race; but at the same time
no one race is privileged over some other race. That transformed society is very different from the society with which
and in which we have been acculturated.
These two foci of liberation and transformation have been at
the very core of the Black Religious Experience and African
Centered theology from the days of David Walker, Harriet
Tubman, Richard Allen, Jarena Lee, Bishop Henry McNeal
Turner and Sojourner Truth through the days of Adam
Clayton Powell, Ida B. Wells, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa
Parks, Malcolm X, Barbara Jordan, Cornel West, Paul
Robeson and Fannie Lou Hamer.
The United Church of Christ has had
liberation and transformation at the
center of its theological perspective since
its predecessor denomination, the Congregational Church of New England,
came to the moral defense and paid for
the legal defense of the Mende people
aboard the slave ship Amistad; …since
the days when the United Church of
Christ fought against slavery, played an
active role in the Underground Railroad
and set up over 500 schools for the
Africans who were freed from slavery
in 1865.
And, these two foci—liberation and
transformation—remain at the core of
the teachings of the United Church of Christ as it has fought
against Apartheid in South Africa and fought against racism
in the United States of America ever since the “union” which
formed the United Church of Christ in 1957.
These two foci of liberation and transformation have also
been at the very core of the congregation of Trinity United
Church of Christ since it was founded in 1961; and these
foci have been the bedrock of our congregation’s preaching
and practice for the thirty-six years that I served as its pastor.
Our congregation took a stand against Apartheid when the
government of our country was supporting the racist regime
of the Afrikaaner government in South Africa. Our congregation stood in solidarity with the peasants of El Salvador
and Nicaragua while our government (through Ollie North
and the Iran-Contra scandal) was supporting the Contras
who were killing the peasants and the Miskito Indians in
those two countries.
Our congregation sent fifty two men and women (on my
watch) through accredited seminaries to earn their Master of
Divinity degrees (with an additional twenty being enrolled in
seminary when I retired), while building two senior citizen
housing complexes and running two childcare programs for
the poor, the unemployed and low-income parents on the
Southside of Chicago for the past thirty years.
Our congregation feeds over 5,000 homeless and needy
families every year while our government cuts food stamps
and spends billions fighting unjust wars in Iraq,
Afghanistan, Libya and anywhere else U.S. business
interests are threatened.
[ Continued on page 20 ]
13
Kairos and the Challenge of
Theological Education
Dr. James H. Evans, Jr., Robert K. Davies Professor of Systematic Theology
“What has in the past been taken for granted—that
theological schools were a vital part of the landscape of
higher education—is now up for debate ... our graduates
will face new challenges—or old challenges in new forms.
The question is, how can we respond to them?”
“Theological
education cannot
be successfully
carried out
without attention
to the most
significant
challenges to our
lives together.”
14
Theological education today faces significant challenges, among them being
stagnant or declining enrollments, uneven and sporadic support from churches,
and in the cases of university related divinity schools, the demand for demonstrable
results from its activities. Indeed, what has in the past been taken for granted—that
theological schools were a vital part of the landscape of higher education—is now
up for debate. At Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School we have certainly not
been immune to these challenges.
Our discussions on how to shape a curriculum that will help our students pursue ministry in all of its varied forms in light of these challenges has settled on the idea of
Kairos. Kairos is defined theologian Paul Tillich as “the fulfillment of time” or as “God’s
time.” This notion of kairos points to the potential that each moment of our existence
contains. This concept has been important for our discussion of our mission as a
faculty as we seek to prepare women and men to be leaders in world that is full of crisis
and potential in equal measure. We live in such a moment and therefore, theological
education cannot be successfully carried out without attention to the most significant
challenges to our lives together. While there will likely never be complete consensus on
the exact nature of those challenges, this means that theological education must be
carried out with both a sense of purpose and urgency.
The values that have historically been associated with the faculty and alumni/ae of
this school include economic justice—Walter Rauschenbusch, spiritual integrity—
Howard Thurman, an ecumenical vision—Edwin Dahl and Stanley Stuber, racial
justice—Martin Luther King, Jr., gender equality—Marjorie Matthews and Betty Bone
Schiess, among others. Each in his or her own time faced the daunting challenges of
ministry head on. Part of their preparation for doing so occurred in this place.
We know that our graduates will face new challenges—or old challenges in new
forms, and the question is how can we respond to them? Here is where the notion
of kairos comes into play.
”Theological education must be transcendent
but not trendy. It must be an expression of love
that wants to hold the human family together.”
Understanding the world in a kairotic framework presents three specific challenges to persons and institutions
involved in the preparation of the next generation of
learned, pastoral and prophetic leaders.
First, theological education must be an
act of faith. When Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. penned
his Letter From A Birmingham Jail, he stated that the time
for change in the established system of racial segregation in America had come. The urgency of his plea was
based on his conviction that God provides providential
moments for the human community to effect the kind of
social transformation that reveals the kingdom of God
among us.
Theological education must not view the classical traditions of the Christian community as hermetically sealed
formulae to be simply applied to our situation. Christian
faith is situated in the timeliness of our lives. Therefore
theological education must search for the timely truth
and never settle for the temporary falsehoods of our
society. King knew that the timely justice of God was
always victorious over the temporary injustices perpetrated by humanity. Theological education in its
teaching, formation, research and publications should
be an expression of the faith that unites us with God and
with one another.
Second, theological education must be an
act of hope. It must be current, but not shortsighted. In
the quest for relevance, theological educators and students can become intoxicated with what the latest trends.
Indeed, many church leaders turn to futurists and others
to determine where the church is going. The expectation
is that if they had an idea of where the church is going
they might be able to better serve these congregations.
Ministering into the future involves risk, trust and ultimately hope. The analysis of demographic statistics can
be helpful on occasion, but what the community of faith
requires is a hopeful vision for the future. That future is
found only in God.
Third, theological education must be an
act of love. This love is not the sort that is satisfied with
anything less than excellence in our Christian service. In
times of scarcity and uncertainly some theological
schools can be tempted to mistake this call to love as a
call to accommodate students and faculty and staff by
requiring less of them rather than more. Sometimes it
may legitimately be understood as act of pastoral care.
However, the kairotic moment requires commitment at
the highest level and an understanding of the gravity of
the moment. Theological educators must demand the
best of themselves and model that to students and
others. Theological education must be transcendent but
not trendy. It must be an expression of love that wants to
hold the human family together.
Theological education in the United States stands at a
crossroad. We can either submit to the fear and uncertainty which initially confronts us, or we can embrace the
opportunity to serve
this present age in
new and fresh ways.
That is the choice we
face. Our choice
should be shaped by
the joyful fact that
“The Time Is Now.”
“We can either
submit to the fear
and uncertainty
which initially
confronts us, or
we can embrace
the opportunity
to serve this
present age in
new and fresh
ways. That is the
choice we face.”
15
Save the Date
October 6–9, 2014
Lectures, Reflection
and Worship
H i g h l i g h t s i n c lu d e :
Helen Barrett Montgomery
Conference Lecture:
“The Exploitation of Women”
Ms. Edwina Gateley, presenter
Janice Lynn Cohen Symposium
on Child and Adolescent Health
and Spirituality: Kids’ Health in
the ‘Crescent’: From Hard Data
to Real Hope (at the
University of Rochester
Medical Center)
Christian Faith and
the LGBT Experience
Lecture:
“It is—more
than—what it is.”
Rev. Ray Bagnuolo
Ms. Edwina
Gateley
CRCDS Artists
will be featured
throughout the week
16
Dr. Grant is the former Executive
Director of the non-profit
Christian organization known as
the Ministers and Missionaries
Benefit Board (MMMB). Dr. Grant
served as executive director and
treasurer of American Baptist
Churches of New York State, and
as the senior pastor at churches
in New Hampshire and Maine for
more than 15 years.
A graduate of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and
Gordon College, Dr. Grant completed the Advanced
Management Program at Harvard University’s School of
Business Administration. In 2002, he received an honorary
Doctor of Divinity degree from Franklin College.
Rev. Ray
Bagnuolo
Rev. Dr. Allan
Boesak
Amos 5:24
Rev. Dr. Sumner Grant and Mr. George Hamlin,
IV were appointed as Governing Trustees at
May’s Board meeting. Grace Norton Evans
(BMTS ‘52) and Mary Anna Geib (CRDS ‘64)
were named Life Trustees. The Rt. Rev. Jack
McKelvey has accepted the position as Board
Chair. Mr. Richard DiMarzo will act as Vice Chair
and Sue Scanlon, Esq. will serve as Secretary.
R ev . D r. Sum n er G ra n t
African American Legacy Lecture:
Rev. Dr. Allan Boesak, Desmond Tutu Chair
of Peace, Global Justice and Reconciliation
Studies, Christian Theological Seminary
“But let justice
roll down
like waters
and
righteousness
like an
ever-flowing
stream.”
Board of Trustees Welcomes
Two New Members and
Names its 2014-2015 Slate
of Officers
M r. G eo rge W. H a m li n , IV
Mr. Hamlin is Chairman of the
Board of the Canandaigua
National Bank and Trust
Company.
Before joining the Bank in 1978
he was associated with the
Rochester law firm of Nixon,
Hargrave, Devans and Doyle.
Mr. Hamlin graduated from Yale
University in 1963 with a B.S.
degree in Physics. He received his
J.D. from the University of Virginia Law School in 1972.
We offer our deep gratitude and thanks
to five Board members who have completed their terms of
service: Stuart J. Mitchell III (CRDS ’70), Gary DeBellis,
Joe Kutter (CTS ’71), Frank Tyson (CTS ’69) and Paul Vick
(CRDS ’71).
Thank you for your tireless support of CRCDS and
its mission. We thank God for you and your years of
dedicated service.
Horizon Society: CRCDS benefactor of generous $1M gift
“The true meaning of life is to plant
trees, under whose shade you do not
expect to sit.” — N e l s o n H e n d e r s o n
Steven Price (CRCDS ’91) and Norman Geil believe
in “growing the good work” in every sense of the word.
Norman, a former environmental attorney, and Steven,
a pastor at Community Christian Church in Chili, NY
and Director of Service Excellence at Rochester’s Trillium
Health, traversed very different career paths. Both,
however, possess the same intrinsic belief in Colgate
Rochester Crozer Divinity School and its reputation as a
place where “transformation happens.”
When their financial
planner contacted them
Steven, a tap dancer for over 20 years, belongs to Oasis
about updating their
Tappers, and at age 50, dances alongside its oldest
wills, they made a “very
member, age 96. An accomplished singer, he’s perintentional decision” to
formed with the Rochettes at the David Hochstein
gift a $1M life insurance
Memorial Music School, The School of the Arts, and
policy to CRCDS to
Christ Church, all in Rochester. Now retired, Norman
support its mission of
occasionally audits courses at CRCDS. He has served as
preparing transformative
treasurer at Christ Church in Rochester for the past seven
leaders who are pasyears and is committed to
toral, prophetic and
Norman Geil and Steven Price
staying physically fit through a
learned. Although many
Brodie and Gracie
healthy exercise routine.
people assume that
Steven and Norman’s are not
planned giving is comonly dear friends of the school.
plicated, Norman says, “It really was very easy. Because of
They are also neighbors! Just
the way the policy is structured, the overall cost of the gift is
one street—and one hill—over
reduced and in this way, the dollars are used more strategifrom the CRCDS campus, you
cally. Monies are leveraged about five times more through
will find them both with the
this joint policy, as opposed to a single-insured policy.”
other loves of their lives—an Irish terrier named Brodie and a
Steven and Norman’s generosity extends beyond the gift of the
basset hound named Gracie.
actual policy itself. While CRCDS retains full ownership of the
CRCDS is grateful for the generosity and friendship of Steven
policy and thus, must pay the annual premium, Steven and
and Norman and thankful to have them as members of the
Norman decided to donate an annual amount to the school
CRCDS family. Together, they are making a difference in the
that is equal to the annual premium, for which they receive a
legacy of CRCDS, helping to ensure its success in the many
tax deduction. The policy itself will be fully paid up in ten
years to come.
years. “It’s a win-win” for CRCDS and for them, says Norman.
The couple view their financial investment as a tangible way
to support CRCDS’ commitment to the biblical mandate for
justice and mercy and its mission of training leaders who
confidently speak truth to power. They say, “It’s important for
both of us to have a beacon to support what we feel is right.”
For them, and for many others, CRCDS is that beacon.
Both Steven and Norman have adapted or surrendered
hectic corporate lives in order to participate more fully in
meaningful spiritual, community and creative pursuits.
W h at i s Yo u r L e g a c y ?
What is your legacy? Take care of yourself and help take
care of CRCDS. For more information on how you can
help us grow, contact Tom McDade Clay, Vice President
for Institutional Advancement, at (585) 340-9648 or
email tmcdadeclay@crcds.edu.
17
Memorial &
Appreciation Gifts
T h e Fu n d f o r
CRCDS
E. Robert Ferris
Susanna Ferris
Robert E. Miller
Jodi Hottel
In Memory of:
Jerry Freiert
William L. Malcomson
Agnes J. Morrison
Epp K. Sonin
William H. Hamilton
Carol J. Allen
William L. Malcomson
Charles M. Nielsen
Scott W. and Sue Anderson
Thomas A. Hilton
Kenneth Hardy
Deborah Blauw
Leon Pacala
Larry Greenfield
Randy B. Hellwig
Mark and Holly Gestring
Mary Margaret Ricker
Richard M. Ricker
Winthrop S. Hudson
Glenn Loafmann
G. Todd Roberts
Lou G. Roberts Eckle
Frank Hutchins
Jeanne B. Hutchins
Robert Rowsam
Bruce O. Babcock
June Morin
Bernhard Anderson
Frank Q. Beebe
James B. Ashbrook
Clinton L. Barlow
Charles B. Mercer
Paul D. Millin
Michael D. Scott
Glenn H. Asquith, Sr.
Glenn Asquith, Jr.
Arline J. Ban
Joseph D. Ban
Baptist Missionary Training
School
Marita K. Douglas
Gene E. Bartlett
Jean Bartlett
Michael D. Scott
Mr. and Mrs. Miller C. Kilpatrick
David M. Kilpatrick
Henry A. Buzzell
Eleanor Pope
Ruth Lacker
Rev. Barbara J. Lacker-Ware and
Rev. Michael A. Ware
W. Douglas Call
Anonymous
J. Paul Cameron
Anonymous
Paul and Ellen Mae Carter
Vernon and Janice Kuehn
Jack E. Corbett
Sara A. Corbett
J. Ralph Davie
Kathleen M. Davie
18
H. Victor Kane, Sr.
H. Victor Kane, Jr.
Edward H. Rybnicek
Robert H. Calvert
Roland V. Santee
Lorena M. Ritter
Jarvis G. Schwarz
Genevieve Schwarz
Werner E. Lemke
Sandy Lemke
Tanya Sexton
James S. Badger
Harold Loughhead
Wilda J. Loughhead
Kenneth L. Smith
Thomas G. Poole
Joellyn W. Tuttle
Ronald H. Webb
Donald T. Mackey
Merilyn M. Israel
John B. Mackey
Merilyn M. Israel
Richard Liam Mackey
Merilyn M. Israel
Donald S. Deer
James G. Denny
Clifford H. Haskins
Virginia D. Mackey
Kathleen E. Madigan
V. E. Devadutt
V. Sumati Devadutt
John A. Massimilla
Edna Massimilla
John E. Donovan
Dorothy J. Donovan
Floyd W. McDermott
Lorena M. Ritter
Robert R. Spears
Walter Szymanski
M. Kathleen Talbot
Gary D. Talbot
William R. Tasker
Jimmy A. Beshai
Charles Thurman
Mattie Thurman
Rollin Tingley
Patricia W. Tingley
December 13, 2013 – June 7, 2014
James E. Townsend
Billie Townsend
Barbara A. Moore
James S. Badger
Charles E. Walker
Kenneth G. Benne
Margaret A. Nead
Samuel Bishop
Ted V. Wannenwetsch
Jean Banfield
Louise W. Epstein
Kathryn Scheck
James Sanders
David C. Marx
Edina Weeks
Edwin F. Weeks
MacDonald Westlake
Jennie A. Findley
Brenda P. Williams
W. Kenneth and Peggy Williams
Harrison E. Williams
Eloise Beynon
J. C. Wynn
Roxie Jester Ash
Peter Fabian and
Aurelia Hale-Fabian
In Honor of:
Claudine P. Crooks
Margaret Ackley
Christopher H. Evans
Robert Goeckel
Jessie A. Harrison
Winterbourne LaPucelle Jones
Robert and Charlotte Harrison
Winterbourne LaPucelle Jones
H. Darrell Lance
Scott W. Anderson and
Sue A. Anderson
Deborah L. Hughes
Dr. Marvin A. McMickle
Fred M. Gibson
Thomas McDade Clay
Elizabeth T. Clay
Pamela A. McDaniel
Paul McDaniel
Stephanie L. Sauvé
Robert L. Booher
Robert Selby
Betty Cloen
In honor of David, Marion,
Randy, Stephen and Sarah
Margaret’s birthdays
Jean Bartlett
In honor of Jean Bartlett
Kenneth V. Dodgson and
Sally Dodgson
Marion Bartlett VanArsdell
Crozer Endowment Fund
Susan S. Shafer
Samuel Bishop
In memory of J. Pius Barbour,
Elmer P. Gibson, and
Henry H. Mitchell
Frank Tyson
Joseph H. Sutcliffe
J. Raymond Sutcliffe
In honor of Kenneth Cauthen
Frank Tyson
Paul A. Vick
Lawrence Hargrave and
Brenda Lee
Kent L. Kiser Memorial
Scholarship Fund
OTHER FUNDS
Benedetto Pascale Scholarship
Fund
Baptist Missionary Training
School Professorial Chair
In memory of Benedetto Pascale
Elmo and Ella Pascale
In memory of
Suzanne Rinck Armstrong
Marian Gerecke
Cheryl C. Knight
Janice Lynn Cohen Memorial
Fund
Baptist Missionary Training
School Scholarship Fund
In memory of
Mary Frances Lewis Smith
Dorothy J. Donovan
John B. Donovan
Mary Jo Pugh
BJ Wilcox
Daryl D. Wiltshire
Gene Bartlett Scholarship Fund
In memory of Gene E. Bartlett
Jean Bartlett
Steven Bartlett and
Linda Bardenstein
Marion Bartlett VanArsdell
In memory of Kent L. Kiser
A. Melissa Kiser
In memory of Marcia Karch
Jerry and Susan Marks
In memory of Myron Nozik
Marshall and Doris Cohen
J. C. Wynn Family Ministries
Fund
In memory of J. C. Wynn
Rachel Wynn and the Wynn Family
All memorial and appreciation
contributions received after
June 7, 2014 will be published in
the Fall/Winter 2014 Bulletin.
19
[ Continued from page 13 ]
Our congregation has sent dozens of boys and girls to
fight in the Vietnam War, the first Gulf War and the
present two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. My goddaughter’s unit had just arrived in Iraq the week of the
Symposium on the Prophetic Witness of the Black Church
while those (that same week) who call me unpatriotic have
used their positions of privilege to avoid military service all
the while sending over 4,000 American boys and girls to
die over a lie!
Our congregation has had an HIV/AIDS Ministry for over
two decades. Our congregation has awarded over one
million dollars to graduating high school seniors going
into college, and an additional one-half million dollars to
the United Negro College Fund and the six HBCUs
related to the United Church of Christ, while advocating
for healthcare not only for the uninsured but also for the
poor (euphemistically called “the public option” and taken
off the table to get the Affordable Care Act passed by the
greedy pharmaceuticals and the congresspersons who are
on the “DL” payroll of these pharmaceuticals).
Our congregation spent years advocating and working for
workers’ rights for those forbidden to form unions and
fighting the unjust sentencing system which has sent Black
men and women to prison for longer terms for possession
of crack cocaine than white men and women have to
serve for possession of powder cocaine.
Our congregation has had a Prison Ministry for over forty
years, a Drug and Alcohol Recovery Ministry for twenty
five years, a full-service program for senior citizens and
twenty-two different ministries for the youth of our church
from preschool through high school—all proceeding from
the starting point of liberation and transformation. A
prophetic African Centered theology presumes God’s
desire for changed minds, changed laws, changed social
orders and changed hearts in a changed world.
III. A THEOLOGY OF RECONCILIATION
The prophetic African Centered theology of the
Black Church is a theology of liberation. It is a theology
of transformation and it is ultimately a theology of
reconciliation.
The Apostle Paul said, “Be ye reconciled one to another
even as God was in Christ reconciling the world to God’s
self.” God does not desire us as children of God to be at
war with each other, to see each other as superior or inferior, to hate each other, abuse each other, misuse each
other, define each other or put each other down!
God wants us reconciled one to another and that third
principle in the prophetic African Centered theology of the
20
“God does not desire us as
children of God to be at war
with each other, to see each
other as superior or inferior, to
hate each other, abuse each
other, misuse each other,
define each other or put each
other down!”
Black Church is also (and has always been) at the heart of
the Black Church Experience in North America. When
Richard Allen and Absalom Jones were dragged out of
St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia
during the same year (1787) that the Constitution was
framed in Philadelphia for daring to kneel at the Altar next
to white worshippers (Race, Religion and Politics is nothing
new), they founded the Free African Society and they welcomed white members into that organization to show that
reconciliation was the goal—not retaliation.
Absalom Jones became the Rector of St. Thomas Anglican Church in 1791 and St. Thomas welcomed white
Anglicans in a spirit of reconciliation. Richard Allen
became the Founding Pastor of the Bethel African
Methodist Episcopal Church in 1792 and the model of
the A.M.E. church has always been, “God Our Father,
Man Our Brother and Christ Our Redeemer!” In 1792,
the sexist word “man” included men and women of all
races in the spirit of reconciliation.
The Black Church’s role in the fight for equality and justice
from the 1700’s up until 2014 has always had at its core
the non-negotiable doctrine of reconciliation—children of
God repenting for past sins against each other and being
reconciled to one another because of the love of God
who made them all in God’s image.
Allan Boesak and Curtiss DeYoung’s latest book, Radical
Reconciliation, is a must read also for those who wrestle
with Race and Religion and Politics. They use the term
“radical” because they argue that unless reconciliation
goes to the ROOT of the racial problem, then our use of
the term and our understandings are only superficial and
far from biblical!
Reconciliation, the years have taught me, is where the
hardest work is found for those of us in the Christian faith
because it means some critical thinking and some reexamination of faulty assumptions when using the paradigm
which Dr. William Augustus Jones puts forth.
Dr. Jones in his book, God In The Ghetto, argues quite accurately that one’s theology (how I see God) determines one’s
anthropology (how I see humans); and one’s anthropology
then determines one’s sociology (how I order my society)!
The implications from the outset are obvious. If I see God as
male… if I see God as a white male… if I see God as superior—as God over us and not immanu-el which means “God
with us”… if I see God as mean, vengeful, authoritarian,
sexist, or misogynist, then I see humans through that lens.
My theological lens shapes my anthropological lens and
as a result, white males are superior. All others are inferior.
And I order my society where I can worship God on Sunday
morning wearing a black clergy robe and kill others on
Sunday evening wearing a white Klan robe! Race, Religion
and Jim Crow Politics.
I can have laws that favor whites over Blacks in America
or in South Africa. I can construct a theology of Apartheid in
the Afrikaaner church and a theology of white supremacy in
the North American (or Germanic) church!
The implications from the outset are obvious. There is
complicated work to be done as you dig deeper into the
constructs that tradition, habit and hermeneutics put on your
plate. To say “I am a Christian” is not enough. Why?
Because the Christianity of the slaveholder is not the Christianity of the slave. This is where African Centered theology
makes things uncomfortable. The God to whom the slaveholders pray as they ride on the decks of the slave ship is not
the God to whom the enslaved are praying as they ride
beneath the decks of that same slave ship.
How we are seeing God (the theology of the slave holders
and slave traders and the theology of the enslaved) is not
the same; and what we both mean when we say “I am a
Christian” is not the same thing!
The prophetic African Centered theology of the Black Church
has always seen and still sees all of God’s children as sisters
and brothers—equals who need reconciliation… who need
to be reconciled as equals in order for us to walk together
into the future God has prepared for us.
Reconciliation does not mean that Blacks become whites or
whites become Blacks, that Hispanics become Asians or that
Asians become Europeans. Reconciliation means we
embrace our individual rich histories (all of them!). We retain
who we are as persons of different cultures, while acknowledging that those of other cultures are not superior or inferior
to us. They are just different from us. It is the same principle
put forth in a non-racial society.
African Centered theology and “radical reconciliation” mean
we root out any teaching of superiority vs. inferiority, hatred
or prejudice and we recognize for the first time in modern
history in the West that the “other” who stands before us with
a different color of skin, a different texture of hair, different
music, different preaching styles and different dance moves…
that other is one of God’s children just as we are—no better,
no worse!
They are human beings. The “Other” is a human being,
prone to error and in need of forgiveness just as we are.
Only when we can see others through those lenses will liberation, transformation and reconciliation become realities and
cease being ever elusive ideals.
Now, what you just heard and all that I just said was my
presentation at the opening of the two day Proctor
Conference, the two day symposium, the two day gathering
for Legislative Days as we met to discuss the Prophetic
Witness of the Black Church in its 500 year history in the
Black Atlantic. We were there to investigate the nexus of
Race, Religion, Politics, African Centered theology and the
Prophetic Witness of the Black Church. My presentation was
focused on the “once-upon-a-time INVISIBLE INSTITUTION”
BEING INVISIBLE NO MORE!
The Black Church which most of white America knew nothing
about was no longer going to be invisible. African Centered
theology was to be invisible no more. That conference at
Howard University was putting the Black Church front and
center in the discussion—the national discussion—about
Race, Religion and Politics in the Black Atlantic in general,
and in the United States in particular.
My paper was the first of four major papers given at the conference. The Conference was co-sponsored by the Howard
University School of Divinity and a panel discussion involving
the professors from HUSD from different disciplines was to
complement the other three plenary presentations where
papers by three highly respected Black Scholars in Religion
were given.
We retain who we are as persons
of different cultures, while
acknowledging that those of
other cultures are not superior or
inferior to us. They are just
different from us.
Dr. John Kinney, Dean of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School
of Theology gave the second paper. Dr. Katie Cannon, a
leading Womanist Theologian and Professor at Union
Theological Seminary gave the third presentation; and
Dr. Dwight Hopkins, a double PhD from Union Theological
Seminary and the University of Cape Town, gave the fourth
presentation. I thought that the “Ralph Ellison Syndrome” of
the Black Church and African Centered theology would be
21
ended as the Black Church would be made highly
visible by both those scholars and the Divinity School
Panel discussion.
dirty politics once again rendered African Centered theology and the Black Church in America invisible and not
worthy of serious consideration!
However, such was not to be the case. Racism, white
supremacy and white arrogance won out again and
silenced the story of the Black Church, the meaning of
African Centered theology and the Prophetic Proclamation
of the Black Church.
What was equally troubling for me, however, (if not even
more troubling) was witnessing the disturbingly large
number of assimilated African Americans who bought into
the “hype” of a post racial and color blind America and
who embraced the illusion of “progress” while ignoring
the reality of racism. In the words of Chancellor Williams,
those are African Americans who “forgot their story!”
No media coverage was given to Drs. Kinney, Cannon or
Hopkins. No discussion of their input in the dialogue
about African Centered theology, Race, Religion and Politics was offered. No mention was made of the
distinguished panel of Howard University Divinity School
professors or the content of their dialogue.
In fact …nothing that I just
presented to you was covered
by the media…and in the 30
minute question and answer
period following my 500 year
summarization of the Black
Religious Experience and its
three broad points of Liberation, Transformation and
Reconciliation…NOT ONE
QUESTION WAS ASKED OF
ME BY THE MEDIA ABOUT MY
PAPER AND MY CENTRAL
THESIS.
“The good news is that the
messiness of politics has not,
does not and cannot silence the
message of our God who can
still (in the words of our
tradition) ‘take a crooked stick
and hit a straight lick.’”
As both Dr. Martin Marty
(Professor emeritus of Church
History at the University of
Chicago) and Chris Hedges, the public intellectual,
observed, “The media didn’t come to hear about the
prophetic witness of the Black Church. The media
didn’t come to your presentation to learn about African
Centered theology, the Invisible Institution or to hear
your entrée into the presentations by Kinney, Cannon,
Hopkins and the faculty at Howard.”
“The media came there to discredit you and hopefully
destroy the candidacy of the first African descended
candidate for the highest office in the land who looked
like he just might get the Democratic Nomination! Racism
made them come there on the attack! White supremacy
made them ignore, ‘diss’ and in fact trash the religious
tradition and the theology of your people, your parents,
your grandparents and those who died believing that God
could still make a way out of no way! In their estimate
your people and your religious tradition had nothing to
say to them worth hearing or worth reporting.”
The ugliness of dirty politics—the same politics that legalized slavery, legalized Jim Crow, legalized the New Jim
Crow and legalized the war on poor blacks and browns
euphemistically called the “war on drugs”—those same
22
James Melville Washington offers one reason for
this amnesia. Eugene Robinson’s Disintegration:
The Splintering of Black America offers another set of
reasons for this amnesia. Political scientists offer yet
another reason or set of reasons for this kind of amnesia.
Having lived through the political
“season” of 2008 and 2012,
however, I call the “messiness”
of politics the primary reason we
are experiencing such a masshypnosis of racial amnesia.
That is the bad news.
The good news is that the messiness of politics has not, does not
and cannot silence the message
of our God who can still (in the
words of our tradition) “take a
crooked stick and hit a straight
lick.” That message of Liberation
from Exodus three to 2014
remains the same.
That message of transformation from Zaccheus in Luke 19
to Governor Wallace in the 1970’s and that message of
Reconciliation from Jacob and Esau to Archbishop Tutu
and Chief Albert Luthuli…that message remains the same!
That message has been the central core of the Black
Church’s prophetic utterance and the central core of
African Centered theology since the first Africans “stole
away” to freedom or “stole away” to worship. That
message found in the Maroon communities from Dismal
Swamp, Virginia through the Saramaka in Suriname to the
quilombos in Bahia and Maranhao, is the same message.
That message that is found from Haiti to Harlem and from
Rwanda to Rochester…that message is what I challenge
you tonight to embrace as your own message and also as
God’s desire for all of God’s children.
In Zulu I say Siyabonga. And in English? I say
“Thank you” for hearing my heart!
To view lecture videos, please visit www.crcds.edu and
click on "View our YouTube Channel" on the home page.
In Memoriam
Baptist Missionary Training
School
Crozer Theological
Seminary
Alice Simmons Shae
‘48
Nathanael Habel
’44
Marjanet Worrell
’51
Donald Zeiders
’54
Mary Lewis Smith
’51
James K. Zink
‘59
Gertrude Bloss Rector
’55
Ramon Martinez
’70
Colgate Rochester Divinity
School
Everett L. Perry
‘41
Merton McKendry
’42
Jack Noffsinger
’43
James Webb
’44
Gerald Harris
’51
Patricia Taylor Pivnick
’52
Glenn Barrett
’53
Luther Smith, Jr.
’53
Richard Boyle
’61
Hani Khoury
’69
David North
’82
Augustus Spurgeon
’93
Nola Carroll
’96
Friends of CRCDS
Robert Gianniny
C. David Hess
Dorothy MacQueen
Alice Roberson
Berneice Taylor
Rollin Tingley
Blondina Titchenell
Barbara Walker
Anna Wilkes
Laura Whyte
Patricia Yorks
William Yorks
23
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B u l l e t i n o f t h e C o l g at e R o c h e s t e r C r o z e r D i v i n i t y S c h o o l
Spring / Summer 2014
Faith. Critically engaged.
Each person can
make a difference!
This image, entitled
“Earth Wave”, is the
result of NASA’s
“Cassini Mission”
request on July 19th
asking people all over
the world to “Wave at
Saturn.” Over 1,400
people from over 40
countries submitted
images via Facebook,
Twitter, Flickr,
Instagram and email.
This photo represents
the resulting collage.